Once upon a time there lived a poor woodcutter in a huge forest. In the summer he helped peasants from the surrounding villages cut down forest, and he lived well. But in winter the woodcutter had a hard time. All he could do was collect brushwood and then sell it for next to nothing in neighboring villages.
And often, too often, it happened that the poor woodcutter could not get bread for himself and his family, which consisted of a wife, two boys of twelve and thirteen years old, a girl named Marie and a dog. The dog's name was Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet - such a long name was given to her by an old witch who lived nearby. And - an amazing thing! - ever since the old woman visited the woodcutter, the dog began to talk just like you and me and often intervened in the conversation.
And in the winter, by the time the snow flakes had been lying on the trees for a month and a half, there was not a piece of bread left in the woodcutter’s shack. The woodcutter tried to ask the peasants for bread, but nothing came of it, and he saw that he and his children were destined to die of starvation.
In the evening, when the children went to bed, and Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet was dozing near the stove, the woodcutter said to his wife:
“My poor Katrina, we’ve been sitting without bread since the morning, and I probably won’t be able to get it.” The unfortunate children will die of hunger before our eyes, and I cannot bear to watch their suffering. I thought about this all day and this is what I came up with: tomorrow morning we’ll take our sons and daughter into the forest, as if to collect brushwood, we’ll take them far, far away and leave them there. They will die, of course, but at least we won’t see them starve to death. Do you agree?
“It’s very hard for me, Pierre, but what can you do?” There is nothing else left for us.
- So it’s decided. We'll wait until morning, but now it's time to sleep.
Pierre and Katrina went to bed. But Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet did not miss a single word from their conversation.
As soon as the woodcutter and his wife fell asleep, she quietly went to the bed where the children were sleeping, woke them up and told them about everything she had heard. The poor things burst into tears.
- Calm down and don’t wake your parents, otherwise everything will be lost. Here's what to do.
In the cupboard, at the bottom of the bag, there are some more peas. Let one of you slowly take it and tomorrow quietly throw the peas on the ground. Using these peas we can easily find our way home.
The children promised to do everything as the smart dog told them, and fell asleep again. The next morning the woodcutter woke them up:
- Get up, children, there is not a bundle of brush left in the house, we need to go to the forest.
The children got up and went with their parents into the forest, but from time to time they threw a few dry peas on the ground to mark the way back. By evening, Pierre and Katrina disappeared, leaving both boys and the girl far from home. The children began to cry.
“Don’t cry,” said the dog, “we will only spend one night in the forest.” Tomorrow morning. I will certainly find your parents' shack. Lie down on the moss, and I will watch over you.
The children lay down on the moss, and Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet guarded them so well that neither the wolves nor the foxes dared to approach the sleeping children. When morning came, the children woke up and warmly thanked their faithful watchman.
“Now,” said Courtillon-Courtilette, “follow me and do not go astray.”
And the dog, without any difficulty, found its way to the woodcutter’s house. They got there at noon. It was just lunch time. Some peasant who owed Pierre some money repaid the debt, and Katrina cooked a delicious soup.
- Our poor children! - she said, crying. “If they were at home, how happy they would be to have such a delicious soup!”
- Yes, our poor children! And poor Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet, who left with them. We did a bad thing by leaving them in the forest. They were probably eaten by wolves.
And the woodcutter also cried. “Knock-knock-knock!”
- Mom, dad! So we came from the forest. We are very hungry.” Both boys, the girl and Courtillon-Courtilette returned.
Pierre and Katrina were so happy!
Unfortunately, the money didn't last long. The winter was getting angrier, and Pierre again decided to take the children to the forest. But the smart dog again found out about this plan and warned his little friends.
The next morning, the woodcutter with his wife, children and dog again went into the forest for brushwood. The eldest of the boys quietly threw crumbs of cottage cheese onto the ground, since there was nothing else at home.
In the evening, Pierre and his wife disappeared, and the children went to sleep in the open air, guarded by Courtillon-Courtilette.
It rained all night, and the next day Courtillon-Courtilette could not find the way to the woodcutter's hut, because the rain washed away all the cottage cheese that the children had scattered the day before.
- What should we do, what should we do? - the poor things repeated crying.
“We’ll try to get out of the forest,” answered the dog.
So they did. It always seemed to them that the forest was already ending, but in fact they were only going deeper into it. Evening came, and they still wandered in the thicket.
“We can’t walk through the forest all the time,” said the dog. “Jean, climb this tall spruce, climb as high as possible and see if you can see a light somewhere.” Jean climbed the tree, but saw nothing.
“Now it’s your turn, Pierre,” said Courtillon-Courtilette.
But Pierre didn’t see anything either.
- Look now, Marie.
The girl climbed to the very top of the spruce tree.
-What do you see? - the dog shouted to her.
— I see a large frozen swamp on the right side.
- And on the left?
- Frozen pond.
- And right in front of you?
— A huge castle, where lights are burning in all the windows.
- Fine. Now get off, Marie.
The girl got down. Courtillon-Courtilette ran forward, and the children followed her. An hour later they reached the castle.
“Knock-knock-knock!”
- Who are you? - asked the old woman who opened the door for them.
“We are three little lost children, and we ask you for shelter for the night.”
“Don’t you know that this is the devil’s castle and that the devil eats everyone who comes here?”
- Doesn't matter! We were cold and hungry.
- Well, come in.
The old woman did not want to let the dog in, but little Marie begged so much that she had to let Courtillon-Curtilette in too.
The children happily ate a delicious dinner served by the devil's wife. Then they lay down on the bed that she showed them, but first the old woman made them put on straw necklaces. Courtillon-Courtilette hid under the bed.
In the same room the three daughters of the devil slept, but they were wearing beautiful gold necklaces.
Soon the devil returned.
“It smells like raw meat in here,” he told his wife.
- No, it’s just a cat that lambed.
- You're lying! There is a smell of human spirit here.
And the devil began to rummage around the whole house. He found the kids who pretended to be asleep.
- That's good! Now I’ll light the stove and put the roast on the coals. In the morning I will have a great breakfast.
The old woman went to bed, and the devil lit the stove.
Courtillon-Courtilette wasted no time.
She told the children to take off the straw necklaces and put them on the daughters of the devil, and take the gold ones for themselves. So they did.
When the stove became hot, the devil returned to the room where the children were sleeping and approached their bed. He ran his hand along little Marie's neck and felt for a gold necklace.
- I'm completely crazy! - he grumbled. “I almost fried my own daughters!” I must have got the wrong bed.
And he went to the bed where his daughters were sleeping. Feeling for the straw necklaces, he took the girls under his arm and carried them to fry.
- But we are your little daughters! - they shouted, bursting into tears.
- Well, shut up! What do you think I can’t tell between good and bad?
He put them in the oven and went to bed.
When Courtillon-Courtilette heard that the devil was snoring, she woke up the children and told them to take all the gold that was in the castle. The children didn't have to ask twice.
- Now listen. Climb all three of you onto my back, and we will quickly get away from this nasty devil. Just make sure you don't fall off.
The girl sat on the dog's back first, then both boys; Courtillon-Courtilette jumped out of the window and ran across the fields.
She ran for a long time, and then morning came.
The devil, waking up, wanted to kiss his daughters and only then saw what he had done.
He began to swear like a church watchman and swore revenge on the children. He harnessed a turtle, fast as the wind, and galloped after him. After a little time, he saw them in the distance.
“I’ll catch them this time!” They'll dance with me! - the devil growled.
But Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet turned around and saw the devil. Without hesitation, she said:
“Let the children turn into washerwomen, and I into a big river.”
And immediately a wide river flowed across the field, and three washerwomen found themselves on the bank. The devil galloped up.
“Didn’t Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet run here with three children on her back?”
- Get out, you nasty devil! We will teach you a lesson for your ridicule of us!
The devil turned onto another road, and the dog and the children ran even faster.
The evil devil, not finding those he was looking for, finally realized that they had turned into a river and washerwomen, and again directed the turtle in that direction.
But, having galloped there, he saw only a large field of clover, a herd of sheep, a shepherd and a dog.
“Shepherd, didn’t Courtillon-Courtilette run through here with three children?”
- Courtillon-Courtilette? Are you laughing at me? Wait a minute, you vile devil, I’ll teach you a lesson with a stick!
“I’ll take the road to the right. They must have run along it,” the devil decided.
As soon as he was out of sight, the dog again ordered the children to climb onto its back and ran on. But that was not the case.
“Here the devil is riding his turtle again.” Now let me become a meadow, Jeannot and Pierrot - cows, and little Marie - a shepherdess.
Then the devil appeared, furious and despising.
“Hey, shepherdess, didn’t Courtillon-Courtilet Suivon-Suivet run through here with a girl and two boys?”
- Oh, you wicked devil! Why do you need them?
- I want to eat them. Have you seen them?
- Of course, of course! They have just crossed the river.
- Thank you, shepherdess.
The devil galloped to the river, but the turtle did not want to swim to the other side.
“Well, I’ll get over it differently.”
Seeing a large piece of linen in the meadow that the peasants had laid out to whitewash, he threw it on the water and wanted to walk across it as if across a bridge. But the canvas tore, and the devil drowned.
“Now let’s go back to your parents,” said the smart dog.
And she rushed the children home in an instant. The woodcutter and his wife were dying of hunger. They also climbed onto the backs of Courtillon-Courtilette, went with the children to the devil’s castle and began to live and live there. The devil's wife disappeared into thin air.
There was a lot of talk about the happiness and wealth that fell to Pierre the Woodcutter and his family!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru